Unemployment Up in October for Post-9/11 Veterans: Now 10 Percent

(CNSNews.com) -- The unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans was 10 percent in October, an increase from 9.7 percent in September, according to the Job Situation Summary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released today.

The non-seasonally adjusted statistics for veterans over 18 indicated there were 209,000 unemployed post-9/11 veterans in October, which was an increase from 202,000 in September.

The BLS classifies post-9/11 veterans as “Gulf War Era II” veterans, which includes anyone who served on active duty in the U.S. military following September 11, 2001.

Among male post-9/11 veterans, the unemployment rate climbed from 8 percent to 9.2 percent. This was also 1.7 percent higher than the non-seasonally adjusted rate for non-veteran males over 18, which was 7.5 percent.

The post-9/11 veteran female unemployment rate for October was 15.5 percent, which was a decrease from 19.9 percent in September. This was the highest unemployment rate among all veteran demographics.

The same non-seasonally adjusted number for female non-veterans over 18 was 7.4 percent, an 8.1 percent difference.

The labor participation rate among the post-9/11 veteran population also increased in October, going from 82.1 to 82.8 percent.

As reported earlier by CNSNews.com, the overall unemployment rate went up in October to 7.9 percent, and the BLS reported an addition of 171,000 jobs to the U.S. economy. Also, real unemployment decreased to 14.6 percent in October, down from 14.7 percent.